Burdett's Landing
Encyclopedia
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
located in Edgewater, New Jersey
Edgewater, New Jersey
Edgewater is a borough located along the Hudson River in Bergen County, New Jersey. As of the 2010 census, the borough had a population of 11,513...
. Ferries initially used Burdett's Landing as a departure point for transporting agricultural produce from New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
across to New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. In the Revolutionary War
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
it played a role in the movement of American supplies and soldiers, and in the 19th century it served as a landing for steamboats. There is no longer a wharf or ferry service at the landing.
Location
Pre-Revolutionary War
The Lenni LenapeLenape
The Lenape are an Algonquian group of Native Americans of the Northeastern Woodlands. They are also called Delaware Indians. As a result of the American Revolutionary War and later Indian removals from the eastern United States, today the main groups live in Canada, where they are enrolled in the...
of the Algonquian nation
Algonquian peoples
The Algonquian are one of the most populous and widespread North American native language groups, with tribes originally numbering in the hundreds. Today hundreds of thousands of individuals identify with various Algonquian peoples...
were present in the vicinity prior to the founding of Burdett's Landing and appear to have lived in the area for thousands of years before the arrival of Europeans. Their presence diminished as contact with colonists led to illnesses and loss of their traditional lands through encroachment. In the mid-18th century the land which would become Burdett's Landing was owned by a freed slave, who had received it in exchange for his work shoring up a road to the top of the bluff with several hundred yards of retaining wall.
Stephen (né Étienne) Bourdette, a New York merchant of Huguenot
Huguenot
The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the 17th century, people who formerly would have been called Huguenots have instead simply been called French Protestants, a title suggested by their German co-religionists, the...
heritage, purchased 400 acres (1.6 km²) in the Fort Lee
Fort Lee, New Jersey
Fort Lee is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 35,345. Located atop the Hudson Palisades, the borough is the western terminus of the George Washington Bridge...
/Edgewater vicinity from the freedman
Freedman
A freedman is a former slave who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, slaves became freedmen either by manumission or emancipation ....
in 1756. He built a gambrel
Gambrel
A gambrel is a usually-symmetrical two-sided roof with two slopes on each side. The upper slope is positioned at a shallow angle, while the lower slope is steep. This design provides the advantages of a sloped roof while maximizing headroom on the building's upper level...
-roofed stone house in a forest clearing at the bottom of the gorge, and moved his father, also named Étienne Bourdette, into the residence. (Stephen anglicized his Christian name from Étienne. His surname is seen in different spellings of Burdett and Bourdette.) Stephen Bourdette's parcel of land gained access to outlying areas via the Hackensack Turnpike, a route followed today north and south by Hudson Terrace and a section River Road (County Route 505
County Route 505 (New Jersey)
County Route 505 is a county highway in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The highway extends 20.64 miles from John F. Kennedy Boulevard in Union City to the New York state line in Northvale.-Route description:...
), connecting with Main Street in Fort Lee for destinations to the west. A stage line also ran from the landing to Hackensack
Hackensack
-Communities:*Hackensack, Minnesota*Hackensack, New Jersey*South Hackensack, New Jersey*New Hackensack, New York-Train stations:*New Bridge Landing *Anderson Street in Haceknsack, New Jersey...
via Leonia. For commerce with travelers, Bourdette founded a trading post and ferry service. In 1758 he began ferrying goods and people from a protected area of shoreline on the Hudson River in periaugas. These were row-and-sail vessels with two masts and a shallow draft, capable of carrying heavy loads. Initially Burdett's Landing was used by farmers sending their products across to the Bloomingdale section
Bloomingdale District
Bloomingdale is a part of Manhattan's Upper West Side between 96th and 110th Streets and bounded on the east by Amsterdam Avenue and on the west by Riverside Drive, Riverside Park and the Hudson River.-History:...
of Manhattan, which at that time was the west side of New York between 23rd and 125th Streets. He is also noted as operating sloops to various points and a row-and-sail ferry to about 152nd Street in Manhattan.
Stephen's brother, Peter, a farmer who had been living in Hackensack, came to Burdett's Landing with his wife in about 1760 to look after Étienne, Senior, in his old age. The father died at 80, and Stephen gave the property to Peter "several years before the war."
Revolutionary War
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
issued orders to General Mercer
Hugh Mercer
Hugh Mercer was a soldier and physician. He initially served with British forces during the Seven Years War but later became a brigadier general in the Continental Army and a close friend to George Washington...
to summon all available troops and erect a fort on the west side of the Hudson River. The land to which Washington referred lay on the Bourdette property. Construction commenced in July 1776 on the new fort, to be called Fort Constitution. It was located on the western side of the road that led up the hill from the landing. Concurrently, Fort Washington
Fort Washington (New York)
Fort Washington was a fortified position near the north end of Manhattan Island and was located at the highest point on the island. The Fort Washington Site is listed on the U.S...
was being built almost directly across the river in New York. At first efforts were concentrated close to the water level near the Bourdette dwelling. Later, fortifications were added atop the bluff under the supervision of Joseph Philips, Battalion Commander of the New Jersey State Militia. The Bourdette's ferry service was taken over by the Army, and Peter Bourdette was forced to vacate his house; although as a patriot he considered it no sacrifice and offered the work of his slaves to General Mercer's construction efforts. At the end of September 1776, Fort Constitution was renamed Fort Lee, for General Charles Lee
Charles Lee (general)
Charles Lee was a British soldier who later served as a General of the Continental Army during the American War of Independence. Lee served in the British army during the Seven Years War. After the war he sold his commission and served for a time in the Polish army of King Stanislaus II...
of the Continental Army
Continental Army
The Continental Army was formed after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War by the colonies that became the United States of America. Established by a resolution of the Continental Congress on June 14, 1775, it was created to coordinate the military efforts of the Thirteen Colonies in...
. George Washington used the stone Bourdette house for his headquarters when he passed time at Fort Lee. At this stage of the war the ferry operated as a supply line and the only link between Forts Lee and Washington.
Peter Bourdette's sixteen year-old son, also named Peter, provided assistance by direct use of the landing. During the week leading up to the evacuation of Fort Lee he rowed back and forth across the river gathering information for General Washington on the anticipated movements of the British forces. Well after dark on the night before the battle for New York at Fort Washington, George Washington was rowed from Burdett's Landing to the middle of the Hudson River for a strategy session with his senior officers in charge of New York, who rowed to meet him. On November 16, 1776 George Washington witnessed the battle for New York from across the river on the bluff of Fort Lee, above Burdett's Landing.
General Washington ordered the retreat from Fort Lee on November 20, which left the Bourdettes in a dangerous situation with the approach of the enemy. Peter Bourdette sent his wife, Rachel, and his family to safety, keeping his 16 year-old son to help him protect the homestead. They were ineffective in the face of troops, and the landing was plundered by the British regulars and Hessian mercenaries. Rachel Bourdette returned to their home after the soldiers' departure and found all her supplies taken and her animals gone, except for one horse she had hidden. Although enemy troops periodically raided the area for supplies, the family survived the winter. Eventually the tide of war flowed away from the area.
Post-Revolutionary War
After the war the ferry service returned to its farm trade. Peter Bourdette expired at the age of 91 in 1823 and is buried in the Edgewater Cemetery. Burdett's Landing experienced a transformation in the 19th century when steam power was applied to ships, and it became an important landing for steamboats. The Crystenah left New York City's Pier 39 every evening at 6:30 and stopped at Burdett's Landing along its route. In addition, Burdett's Ferry's own company, the Fort Lee & New York Steamboat Company, began operating in 1832 and ran until about 1920. Also known as The People's Ferry Company, it owned at least five steamboats which made stops along the Hudson running south, then crossing to New York City.A demand for paving stones developed in the 19th century as New York City sought to pave its streets. Quarrying operations designed to produce paving blocks appeared on the Palisades Cliff as a result. Burdett's Landing acquired the nickname, "Old Stone Dock," from its service as a transfer location for cobblestones onto lighters bound for New York. This use for Burdett's Landing came to an end when the quarrying and accompanying destruction of the Palisades was brought to an end by the creation of the Palisades Interstate Park in 1900.
Its 60 rooms each had gas lighting, and the hotel had its own ferry service from its grounds to 129th Street in Manhattan. Guests were provided with picnic grounds, band concerts, a roller-skating rink, outdoor shows, and rustic walkways.
Fire destroyed the hotel in 1898, and the owners did not rebuild. The pilings still are seen above the waterline of the Hudson just south of the Fort Lee bluff as a locator for the palatial resort. With the industrialization of Edgewater in the early 20th century the desire to use the area as a resort faded. The house created by Stephen Bourdette for his father stood until 1899. In the 20th century river crossings were handled by other ferries, and Burdett's Landing was no longer needed. Its former location may be seen in an aerial view at the Edgewater Colony website noted in External links below. It was assimilated into the Colony's property when it incorporated in 1948.